A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal

by Anthony Bourdain

Dodging minefeilds in Cambodia, diving into the icy waters outside a Russian bath, chef Bourdian travels the world over in search of the ultimate meal.

The only thing Tony Bourdain loves as much as cooking is traveling, and A Cook's Tour is the shotgun marriage of his two greatest passions. Inspired by the question, 'What would be the perfect meal?', Tony sets out on a quest for his culinary holy grail.

Our adventurous chef starts out in Japan, where he eats traditional Fugu, a poisonous blowfish which can be prepared only by specially licensed chefs. He then travels to Cambodia, up the mine-studded road to Pailin into autonomous Khmer Rouge territory and to Phnom Penh's Gun Club, where local fare is served up alongside a menu of available firearms. In Saigon, he's treated to a sustaining meal of live Cobra heart before moving on to savor a snack with the Viet Cong in the Mekong Delta. Further west, Kitchen Confidential fans will recognize the Gironde of Tony's youth, the first stop on his European itinerary. And from France, it's on to Portugal, where an entire village has been fattening a pig for months in anticipation of his arrival. And we're only halfway around the globe...

A Cook's Tour recounts, in Bourdain's inimitable style, the adventures and misadventures of America's favorite chef.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Travel, Memoir, Cooking, Biography, Foodie

22 pages, Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Anthony Michael Bourdain was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian. He starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition.
Bourdain was a 1978 graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of many professional kitchens during his career, which included several years spent as an executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, in Manhattan. He first became known for his bestselling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000).

Bourdain's first food and world-travel television show A Cook's Tour ran for 35 episodes on the Food Network in 2002 and 2003. In 2005, he began hosting the Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure programs Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005–2012) and The Layover (2011–2013). In 2013, he began a three-season run as a judge on The Taste and consequently switched his travelogue programming to CNN to host Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Although best known for his culinary writings and television presentations, along with several books on food and cooking and travel adventures, Bourdain also wrote both fiction and historical nonfiction.

Reviews

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Dear Anthony,

This is awkward because I am married and you are dead, but... I think I'm in love with you. I guess developing a posthumous crush is a tad creepy, but hey, no one ever called me normal. Besides, I know you wouldn't have given me the time of day: I eat too much vegetarian food for things to have ever worked out between us. But damn, man, you were truly one of a kind. I've been reading your books and watching old episodes of your shows on Netflix; it breaks my heart a little bit every time, because of the way you left us - but what a legacy you left behind! This book is clearly the ancestor of “The Layover” and “No Reservations”; I devoured every page and wished you'd written a much bigger book. Or a bunch of sequels.

This book gave me a glimpse of you that "Kitchen Confidential" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) simply didn't. This time, I got to know you, not just your job. You put your soul on those pages, which makes this book vastly superior to its predecessor. I found out here that you were actually a romantic (not something I would have guessed from the other book!), who watched a lot of amazing movies and then went off to find out what happened off-frame in "Apocalypse Now", "Dr. Zhivago", "Laurence of Arabia" and "The Quiet American". What a crazy, beautiful thing to do!

I must say, I am a bit jealous. You figured out a way to get paid to travel, eat your heart out and get drunk with the locals. Where do I get that job?! Even if the stuff you did for "A Cook's Tour" was grittier than "The Layover" and "No Reservations", it was still pretty damn epic. The way you describe how people live in mysterious places I have never had the chance to visit is so evocative and vivid: I learned some incredible things, and not just about their food! You truly had a way with words, and a gift for observing the world around you: you saw its beauty even in the seediest, most dangerous spots on the planet. You make me want to go there.

I mentioned the vegetarian thing being a potential obstacle to our ever-lasting love, but frankly, as much as I love my tofu, reading what you write about foie gras somehow makes me question all my lifestyle choices (though I am truly sorry you had to suffer that vegan potluck in San Francisco; these people clearly don’t respect the vegetables they eat, which is just sad). This book contains a few very frank passages about where the meat that's on people's plates comes from and I actually find that fascinating - if a bit repulsive. My thinking is that if you are going to eat the stuff, you do need to know where it comes from, and if that offends some readers, well... fuck 'em. They can read something else if they want: I personally loved your thoughts about the dietary habits of North Americans and why a lot of them are silly at best, and hypocritically privileged at worse.

I read your writing and it makes me want to pack a bag and just go to all the places I haven't been yet, to see how people live there, what they eat and if they'll be my friends. And don't worry about selling out to the Food Network: most of us are whores to a corporate overlord somewhere. You took their money and did exactly what you wanted with it, which is the best way of dealing with this. Your unflinching honesty and shamelessness has a disarming charm that makes me go completely gaga. Your appreciation for all the things (food, obviously, but people's hospitality, their traditions and their work) is so intense that it makes me feel like I've only lived half a life. Your fearlessness inspires me so much.

Goodbye, Anthony. I would have tramped all over the world with you."

[Leela · Rating 5 out of 5]

After fourteen years of contented vegetarianism, it takes a lot to make me want to try roasted lamb testicles. I could almost stop writing here: the book is that good. Bourdain's attitude is part of his charm. I'm not sure I'd want to work in his kitchen, but he writes a damn good story. From one end of the earth to the other, he and his faithful camera crew take on whatever is local, exotic, beloved, and edible. Then he eats it. The way this man writes about food is incredible--last time someone made meat sound so good I was in Minneapolis and the local restaurant reviewer had my taste buds in a vice grip.

This writing is not for the squeamish, not for the faint of heart. If you can't stand profanity, read something else. Bourdain pulls no punches, but that means he gives everything a fair shot. Read it. Enjoy it. Then go find a really good dinner.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now, I love Anthony Bourdain. He's basically full of shit and insane, but honest enough to be aware of it.
He's smug, cynical, occasionally snobby and has all the tact of hammer to the forehead.

At the same time he's very aware that he's stumbled into a job most people would kill for, he's getting paid to eat good food and travel anywhere he wants in the world. Someone is paying him to go live out his boyhood dreams and fantasies.
He also loves going places, meeting people and food. He has a soft romantic streak that keeps coming through to remind you all that New York City cynicism will fade the second you show him a breath taking view or a good meal

He writes like he's sitting somewhere, with a drink in his hand, telling you a story.

This book is basically food porn. Anthony goes places 90% of his readers will never get to, and eats food 90% of his readers will never be able to afford or eat. It only occasionally crosses paths with reality, but despite knowing that he makes you want to go to those places ( well, maybe not Cambodia) and eat those foods, even when they are way out of your price range or slightly disgusting sounding.
He had me craving foods I generally don't even like.

If that's not enough, the scene where he talks about his dad will cause you to tear up and how can you not love any author that references Tintin as one of the things that made him want to travel the world.

[Patricia Pham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bourdain - a privileged, hypocritical, crude bastard - manages to write prose that is intriguing, funny, and surprisingly poetic. I began the book as a critic of Bourdain, having just read KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL, which I found to be shallow and boring at best, and also having watched his show NO RESERVATIONS, which often leaves a bad taste in my mouth for several reasons. Despite all this, there has always been something in Bourdain's writing that has kept me coming back. After reading this book, I've been unwillingly converted.

A COOK'S TOUR is actually about FOOD - where it comes from, our relationship to it, and what it reflects - all unfolding through a narrative of vivid, hilarious, and usually grotesque anecdotes. Bourdain's arrogance and self-righteous tirades are quelled by more substantial moments of sensitivity, humility, and romantic introspection. I laughed out loud a minimum of twice per chapter and, at times, was choking with overwhelming sadness. In the end, he might be unfairly frolicking around milking his celebrity, but Bourdain has and will continue to experience the entire world in ways most of us cannot. Again, a lucky asshole who writes a damn good story.

[MacK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goals for my life:

1) Write better

2) Cook better

3) Travel more

Redefined goal for life:

BE LIKE ANTHONY BOURDAIN.

I've listened through this book twice now, and I've loved it both times. In every case there's a new discovery to be had, a new element to enjoy, a new allusion to catch. Bourdain's voice doing the narration, a comforting mix of professor with a smoking habit and friendly guy at the bar, is perfect--naturally because it's his voice reading his words.

The meandering journeys through Asia, Europe and Latin America encourage wanderlust in even the most entrenched home bodies. The accounts of food and meals will give you hunger pains even if you're full to the brim on grandma's beef stroganoff. The wit and wisdom and unedited work of America's foremost connoisseur of all things international makes this book a most read for anyone, everyone who enjoys literature, food or travel--which should be (one, two, thre---all of you)

[Knjigoholičarka]

Izuzetan je osećaj kada od knjige dobijete upravo ono što ste očekivali, a to mi se ovog leta dogodilo čak dva puta. Osećam se kao miljenik nekog knjiškog božanstva. :D

U svakom slučaju, ukoliko ste gledali neki od serijala pokojnog Bordejna, bilo da je u pitanju "A Cook's Tour" (čiji nusproizvod je ova knjiga) ili "No Reservation" (isto to, samo u produkciji druge televizije), i ostale njegove emisije, znate šta da očekujete. Taman kad pomislite da vazda nadrndani Entoni u pojedinim situacijama ne može biti ciničniji ili onako velegradski nadobudniji, potpuno vas razoruža otvorenošću i radoznalošću prema drugim kulturama, kao i odsustvom snobizma kada je hrana u pitanju. Tek što je blebnuo neku budalaštinu usled neinformisanosti ili predrasuda, u stanju je da sa toliko ranjive samokritičnosti prizna da je pojeo govno i pogrešio, što je osobina koju iskreno cenim, zajedno sa odsustvom prenemaganja i palamuđenja. Prostora za napredak i učenje, naravno, uvek ima, i žao mi je što više nećemo biti u prilici da to zaista i vidimo.

A što se hrane tiče, znate da je u pitanju osoba sa tačno nula gastronomskih inhibicija, pa očekujte sve - od pačijih embriona i jagnjećih muda, preko lastavičjih gnezda i hegisa, sve do obične piletine sa pirinčem ili pohovanih čokoladica u zadimljenom škotskom pabu. Sve to uz povremeni uvid u suludi svet profesionalnog kulinarstva.

Da je poživeo, možda bi se pod stare dane zaista preselio u voljeni Vijetnam, pio svakog jutra kafu na plovećoj pijaci i sa nostalgijom se sećao adrenalina u njujorškom ratu restorana. Grešio bi mnogo, naučio još više, tražio i dalje savršeno jelo i zalivao ga jeftinim pivom iz obližnjeg dragstora. Možda bi stigao i do bureka, ćevapa, banice, pečene paprike, kulena, ajvara, peglane kobasice, belmuža, možda bi jeo gravče na tavče, duvan čvarke, jagnjeće sarmice, pihtije...

Znam samo da mi je otvorio apetit za ostrige, koje su mi do pre neki dan bile ravne slanim slinama, a sad bi im opet dala šansu, eto kakav je to kuvar i poguzija bio.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Bourdain's second book has him traveling the globe looking for the "perfect" meal. Visiting locales like France, Portugal, Morocco, Japan, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as a little bit of his home country, Bourdain's goal is to try true, authentic, fresh food and not be afraid to join in and eat like the locals. No matter what their speciality is. Lamb testicles in Morocco, the beating heart of a cobra in Vietnam, haggis in Scotland, nattō in Japan. He's willing (though sometimes understandably reluctant) to try it all and along the way discover that it might actually be good. Except nattō. That just looked disgusting.

Told in vignettes each section focuses on one part of the location he is currently in. There are quite a few from Vietnam and even though they happened concurrently and interspersed throughout the book which can be a little odd to read. The journey he went on was also filmed by the Food Network for the show of the same name and I have that ready to watch to add another dimension to the story. From looking at the episode titles on that it seems that is just as mixed up but in a completely different order to the book.

I've always been an adventurous eater, willing to try anything once, though I don't have a very wide or refined palate. That said I'd be willing to give his trip a try (minus part of the time in Cambodia where he visited a Khmer Rouge-ran city) and hopefully have my horizons expanded. One of Bourdain's beliefs is that nothing should be wasted and all the places he visits are cultures which also embrace that philosophy. Just because some people may be squeamish with things like offal doesn't mean it should be thrown away. The more that can be used out of one animal means the less total number of animals needed to feed people. And it can be quite tasty. Liver and kidney are both nice, though I'm not really a fan of brain, heart or tongue.

One of my issues with the book is it didn't venture to enough places. He visited 5 European countries, 3 in Asia, 2 in the Americas and 1 in Africa. Maybe a little less time in Europe and some more elsewhere would have been good. But his current show, No Reservations, has taken care of that. I really liked Bourdain's attitude - self-deprecating, honest, harsh but always respectful of other cultures and willing to give things a try. And also passionate about the eradication of vegans. A great book I look forward to watching the show and then probably grabbing his next book.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't figure what holds me back about his book. I love Anthony Bourdain's attitude about food and his philosophy about what makes a great meal. I love his desire for absolutely fresh food, right off the bleeding stick or never touching a refrigerator, and I admire the distinctions he makes about how food looks and how it tastes--my wife is one who cannot get over the appearance of food and lets it affect her enjoyment of it, while I don't care how food looks, but simply want good-tasting stuff. I love Bourdain's sense of experimentalism, his willingness to try live cobra heart, and his sense of adventure, how he searches out a fugu chef (who knows how to properly prepare poisonous blowfish), and my wife is now relieved that I take Bourdain at his word that the stuff doesn't really have much flavor and wasn't quite worth all the excitement.

The concept of this book is fantastic--Anthony Bourdain travels to Vietnam, Japan, Cambodia, Portugal, Russia and other fine spots for the adventure of eating. And we're not just talking about the food itself--Bourdain wants the whole experience of food, from the killing of the livestock to the last shot of vodka before heading out into the night. He understands that food comes from a place and people, and he wants to know both as intimately as he can to get a true sense of what the food is about. It is a brilliant gesture in a category of writing that I find all too sterile, a style of writing often taken over by self-professed food gurus sitting in palaces removed from the real cooks and snubbing their noses at true cuisine while only praising what is served in delicate portions in a fine atmosphere. That Bourdain continually bashes Food Network stars is wonderfully brilliant and it makes me trust the man implicitly--were he to serve me brains wrapped in pig cheek and smothered with mayonnaise, I would gladly eat it if he told me it would be some good stuff.

But for whatever reason, I found this book as a whole not so engaging to read, and I can only attribute that to the writing itself. I don't know if this books suffers from Bourdain's inexperience at writing, or if this simply has been edited to death to remove a lot of life from the prose. I would love to praise this book as one of the best that has ever crossed my path, for the content itself is comforting in that it expresses the heart of a true food lover, one I will probably emulate for years to come, but as a book itself, I must say that I skipped over passages that I found highly tedious to read.

[Karen Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Club Read.... Loved this travel memoir so much.... Anthony Bourdain's writing captures a precarious balance of cynicism and true wonder that's very hard to achieve. His genuine passion for good food and good people leaps off the page, as he revels in the simplicities of tradition and family in the places he explores. My mouth watered, my feet itched and I laughed my arse off. This book really spoke my language... Off now to binge watch the accompanying tv show, now streaming on Hulu...and crush on him just a little ;)

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Speechless ....❤️💔❤️💔

[RandomAnthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kim says I have a man crush on Anthony Bourdain.

So what’s a man crush?

My favorite urban dictionary definition of the term reads:

Respect, admiration and idolization of another man. Non-sexual. Celebrities, athletes and rock stars are often the object of the man crush.

Let’s see. Do I have a man crush on Anthony Bourdain by that definition? Let’s frame the question around my recent reading of A Cook’s Tour.

This is Bourdain’s second, book, after Kitchen Confidential. The title is a “double dip”, a technique Bourdain has utilized throughout his career, in which he mines the same experience for both a book and television series. In this case the frame is Bourdain’s search for a perfect meal. However, the “perfect meal” question turns out to be of minimal importance to the narrative, which has the author traveling across the globe, sampling local cuisine and riffing on his responses to the people and culture. Bourdain’s strengths are myriad. First, he’s not some dumbass showing up in Morocco or Paris, trying a snail, and saying, “this tastes good.” He knows his food and he knows it well. The San Francisco chapter, including a visit to Keller’s French Laundry, shows off the author’s encyclopedic food knowledge. Second, he treats the people and cultures he encounters with great respect. Bourdain values consistency and hard work and seems equally awed by both the best chefs in the world and the Bedouin riders that get him high on a desert night. Third, he seems like the kind of guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously but takes his work very seriously. While he’ll mock himself silly for his corporate whoredom to the Food Network pimp, you can tell he doesn’t want to write a crappy book or make a lame episode (although in his own estimation he’s done both). Finally, he writes and talks about food and traveling like a crime fiction fan with a couple of his own crime novels under his belt. All of which is true. He notices the guy who brings the salsa and wonders what he does after work.

In some ways I don’t want to like Anthony Bourdain. I’m a vegetarian, in his eyes a sworn enemy (his shredding of a Californian vegetarian potluck is priceless). He never shuts the hell up about New York, and I’m from Chicago. If I saw him on the street I wouldn’t approach him, because I would feel like an asshole and, while he would probably try to be civil, from what I can tell he’s just want to get the hell away from anyone who ever wanted to talk with him about his books. I admire that. If he wanted to bask in fans’ attention I doubt I’d be a fan.

But do I have a man crush? Two out of three. I respect and admire Bourdain, but I don’t idolize him. I don’t want to be him. I love his books, and I can’t think of a better show to which to work out than No Reservations. A Cook’s Tour reads like a murderless noir novel where the characters eat a lot and taunt the cameramen. And I like that idea. Bourdain is an original; there’s no one like him, and imitators, well, they sound stupid when they try to sound like Bourdain.

So sorry, Kim, no man crush. But I’m reading Twilight next, and there’s always Edward…

[Cynnamon · Rating 4 out of 5]

English version below

***************

Ich glaube, Anthony Bourdain war keine sonderlich netter Mensch. Aber in diesem Buch ist er mir näher gekommen. Nicht, weil ich ihn jetzt mehr mag, sondern weil ich ich ihn besser verstehe. Seine Geschichten lassen ab und an seine Gedankenwelt und seine emotionalen Krämpfe durchblicken und das fand ich sehr interessant.

Das Buch ist eine Sammlung von Vignetten aus der Zeit, in der Bourdain für seine Fernsehshow die Welt bereist hat. Es geht hier nichts um Kochen, sondern ums Essen und manchmal nicht wirklich ums Essen, sondern ums Probieren sehr unappetitlich klingender Dinge.

Eine interessante Lektüre.

----------------

I don't think Anthony Bourdain was a particularly nice person. But this book has brought him closer to me. Not because I like him more now, but because I understand him better. His stories occasionally reveal his thoughts and his emotional spasms and I found that very interesting.

The book is a collection of vignettes from the time Bourdain travelled the world for his TV show. It's not about cooking, it's about eating, and sometimes not really eating, but tasting very unappetising sounding things.

An interesting read.

[Lucinda Garza Zamarripa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I'm leaving Vietnam soon, and yet I'm yearning for it already [...] There's a lot I haven't tried.
I'm still here, I tell myself.
I'm still here".

Anthony Bourdain: arrogante, grosero e inapropiado... y también un chef profundamente apasionado, un escritor tremendamente talentoso y un hombre brutalmente sensible.

Este es un libro sobre muchísimas de sus primeras experiencias viajando y conociendo el mundo, así como a sí mismo y a la nueva carrera que comenzaba en la televisión. Es honesto y brillante, maleducado y encantador, un señor que se hace el duro pero es suave por dentro.

Me reí y lloré, sentí asco y sentí hambre. Te extrañamos siempre, Tony, gracias por dejarnos tus palabras.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot more than Kitchen Confidential, primarily because Anthony Bourdain allows himself to fade into the background in several chapters of the book. I loved his descriptions of meals across the world, and almost every single chapter made me hungry and/or made me laugh out loud. There's a pig roast in Portugal, a market in Vietnam, taco stands in Oaxaca, vodka-soaked dinners in Russia and sake-soaked dinners in Japan.

Bourdain has a true gift for writing about food and about meals. This book is about the search for the perfect meal, but he makes sure to qualify that - the perfect meal is "very rarely the most sophisticated," because "context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one's life." This is absolutely true, at least for me. The thought of venison sausage brings me back immediately to the Texas hill country in the early 2000s, and there's probably nothing better (or less authentic) than my mom's spaghetti. The adventure in this book is less about the search for the perfect meal, and more about reading other cultures through his culinary explorations. The chapters that I enjoyed the most were the most contained and conveyed an absolute sense of place through the meals (Basque, Morocco, Russia, and Portugal).

I found the structure of the book a little odd, as well as the choice of locations. Bourdain has three separate chapters about Vietnam. I could certainly read about Vietnamese food forever, but because the chapters are split up through the book I was continually surprised by each return. There's also, rather shockingly, a chapter set in Cambodia, where he pays locals to take him to a Khmer Rouge stronghold. The history lesson on Cambodia is useful, but I found the entire idea that Bourdain would drag (1) his crew and (2) a bunch of local Cambodians to Pailin to be so distasteful that it soured the second part of the book for me. Bourdain repeats a couple of times that he wants to have Adventures, potentially in the style of a Joseph Conrad villain (!); he also mentions that his TV producer gently suggests that he look at a map before he goes to a country. This is certainly an honest representation of why he's choosing to travel, but it veers into a reckless arrogance that I don't particularly like.

Bourdain also spends part of an entire chapter defending Gordon Ramsay for being crass and confrontational in his kitchen (I wonder why Anthony Bourdain would do that?), and writes a chapter about San Francisco that seems to be specifically targeted towards demeaning vegetarians. It's certainly possible to go to San Francisco after visiting Cambodia and feel that Americans are lucky to have accessible meat, at all, but Bourdain's attitude towards vegetarianism is so antagonistic and puzzling. If kids in Cambodia are starving, should everyone around the world say, "You're right! We should be consuming as much factory-farmed meat as possible, because that's an authentic expression of our cuisine?" There's a world of difference between Bourdain's elevation of the Portuguese pig farm slaughter and his cursory few sentences about the bland and fattening mass-produced food of the Midwest. Are we all supposed to ignore climate change until we've solved world peace? If he didn't want to go to a vegan restaurant in Berkeley, couldn't he have decided to visit India, or Israel, or Ethiopia? You don't have to be popping entire roasted birds in your mouth in Vietnam in order to experience the world's cuisine.

Anyway, I liked this a lot, and Bourdain is a gifted writer. But I'm still puzzled by his position as an elder statesman of American food culture. I don't think I particularly like him.

[Vasko Genev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Завърших книгата в същия месец август, в който е завършена и самата тя. Синхроничност.

Сред американците за аристократ се смята всеки талантлив мошеник с повече от четири коли и къща със собствена брегова ивица в района на Хамптънс. Установих, че в Шотландия смисълът на това понятие е съвсем различен. Богатите говорят различно.
Не познавам богати американски семейства, които биха могли да посочат величествента гора с високи дървета и прелестни дълбоки потоци и да кажат: "Моят пра-пра-пра дядо е засадил тези дървета". Беше невероятно красиво.

Зарових голите си стъпала в пясъка и останах така за дълго, наблюдавах как слънцето потъва между дюните като спихваща плажна топка, цветът на пустинята бързо се промени от червен в златист, премина през охра и стигна до бяло, небето също се промени. Чудех се по силата на какъв необясним късмет един нещастен, маниакално-депресивен, застаряващ, недостоен шмекер като мен - обикновен готвач от Ню Йорк без особени отличия в дългата му и скандално неравна кариера - успя да се озове тук и да осъществи мечтата си.

Аз им казвам: "Аз съм най-милото и сладко същество на света. Звъниш ми в четири сутринта, защото ти трябват пари за гаранцията? Отзовавам се мигом. Няма да ти стопявам лагерите, както правят някои други главни готвачи. Няма да те унижавам пред подчинените ти или пред когото и да било друг. Не е нужно постоянно да се обръщаш към мен с "шеф". Имам чувство за хумор и във времето ми за почивка съм покварено и пропаднало животно - също като теб. Ще ти хареса да работиш с мен. Ще се забавляваме... Но ако някога ме прецакаш, ако говориш гадости зад гърба ми, ако допуснеш груба грешка или закъсняваш, ако покажеш нелоялност под каквато и да било форма, не ме е грижа дали си най-скъпият ми приятел, не ме интересува дали си спасявал проклетия ми живот, ще уволня нещастния ти задник, все едно си духам носа. Разбрахме ли се? Ясно ли е? И би ли искал да ти го напиша?" На това му се вика "откровено предупреждение". Начертал си границите. Прекоси ли ги - сбогом.

Споменът е могъщ инструмент в екипировката на всеки готвач. Използван умело, би могъл да бъде смайващо ефикасен. Не знам за друг, който да си служи така успешно с него като Келър. Когато ядем четиризвезно ястие в едни от най-добрите ресторанти в света, и някакво дребно подсъзнателно напомняне продължава да ни връща назад към печените сандвичи със сирене, приготвяни от майка ни, към първото ни посещение в "Баскин-Робинс" или към първото ни ястие във френско заведение, не можем да се спрем - дори най-циничните сред нас - и да не бъдем очаровани и тласкани към състояние на блаженно смирение. Достатъчно добре е, когато едно блюдо някак ни напомня за скъп момент или грижливо скътан вкус отпреди години. Когато тези очаквания и предварителни представи след това бъдат надминати, се оказваме изключително приятно изненадани.

Бурдейн пише интригуващо. Книгата е леко хаотична, но е изпълнена с множество интересни истории от цял свят. Разбира се, има много храна. Кулинарна вакханалия. Бях се настроил за книга, сякаш писана от един общ образ съчетал дънгалаците Антъни Бурдейн, Джереми Кларксън и щипка от Чарлз Буковски, и горе-долу това получих, доволен съм.

Любопитно ми беше да разбера, че Бурдейн толкова много е харесал Виетнам, дори си е представял да живее там.

Пълен майтап беше, когато се появи българинът Миша в Камбоджа :) С него дори имаше поне две сцени, включително момент, в който карат заедно мотори, спира ги караул и на Миша се налага да влезе в качеството си на преводач :)

Антъни Бурдейн е имал голяма любов, книгата започва и завършва с нея.

Разбрах, че Богът на кухнята според Антъни Бурдейн, а така също и за цяла плеяда от известни готвачи, е Томъс Келър.

Бурдейн е искал да напише книга за "перфектното угощение". Разбира се, накрая ставя ясно, че "перфектното" е мираж.

Мексико е страната, без която ресторантьорският бранш в Америка би се сринал. Оказва се, тази страна е дала едни от най-добрите шеф готвачи в Америка, включително най-добрите специалисти на френската кухня!

Разбрах, че Бурдейн е открил най-близкия вариант на споменатото "перфектно" в Япония. Там, колаборацията между уникална култура, поведение и професионализъм, почти е създала "перфектното".

Колкото повече четях, толкова повече ми се гледаха предаванията на Бурдейн. Честно казано, предпочитам да го гледам и слушам. Твърде много изброени ястия, зави ми се свят, загубих се в сложните им имена :)

Дояде ми се, догледа ми се, дослуша ми се! Не ми се чете за храна :D

Странно, оказа се, че книгата ми е омазана само с шоколад :)


ПП. И все пак, ако искате книга за услаждане, прочетете Сватовникът от Перигор.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me likey the food mmmmmm
Tucci vs Bourdain cook writing mmmmmm I watch them fight

[Obsidian · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Goodreads account is not keeping up with my books currently reading. I started this on Saturday (December 9th) and finished it yesterday.

Anthony Bourdain is always a good read to me. I really loved his first memoir, Kitchen Confidential. I think due to what is going on in the U.S. right now, I have been reading a lot of cooking memoirs the past few weeks. There is something wonderful about reading about other cultures and their love of food. And I have tried to recreate some menus (did not attempt any in this book though for obvious reasons).

Off the bat you get that Bourdain loves food. He loves meeting/talking to other food obsessed people. Starring in a television show that is taking him around the globe to eat food seemed like a win-win. Some scenes were rather hard to read about (the one describing how ducks are stuffed to make foie gras---no thank you), others are humorous, and at times you get a feeling of sadness depending on what Bourdain is going on about in a particular chapter.

I have to say that the book itself jumps around a lot. I don't know if this is the order he filmed or what. We go to Russia, Tokyo, Scotland, France, England, Saigon, and other countries with Bourdain and his camera crew along with local men/women who show Bourdain how to eat/prepare their favorite dishes.

I would say don't read this if you have a weak stomach though. You read about a pig being slaughtered, a goat, and about Bourdain hunting rabbits (seriously).

I think my favorite chapters has to be about Bourdain waxing enthusiastically about Gordon Ramsey and Hubert Keller. I really wish I could eat at The French Laundry cause it sounds wonderful.

I didn't rate this five stars since the book jumped around a lot and I didn't know what angle Bourdain was going for in the final execution of this book. Was it to share his love of food? His realizing there is no such thing as a perfect meal, rather it's the memory that you go chasing when thinking of your favorite food? Or was it to showcase other cultures and how they got really screwed by other countries (Vietnam and Cambodia).

[Leftbanker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in the wake of my lament on hearing of the author’s death. His posthumously aired episode on Berlin on CNN was something of a minor masterpiece and makes me want to pack up and mover there.

His short chapter on Gordon Ramsey totally turned my opinion around about that guy, at least until I see him again on TV.

Part of Bourdain’s shtick is to bust on all things vegetarian, but his screed in this book is sort of childish and lacks something that is infused in almost everything he writes: humor. I just think that going through life without ever eating meat is dumb. I always mention goiters in my argument, a horrible condition brought on because of the lack of just a trace amount of iodine in the diet. What could people who avoid animal products be missing? All of their former arguments in favor of never eating meat have mostly been invalidated. It just seems stupid and random to say that you don't eat this of that. I could probably survive if I ate less pork, but to swear off this delicious animal for a lifetime is simply a profound error. It smacks of religious fanaticism, and everyone hates religion, right? Most vegetarians are suffering from an eating disorder. It's a way to control what you eat, which is pretty much the definition of an eating disorder.

[Daniel Jr.]

As someone who grew up poor, ate cheap, salty stuff out of boxes and cans (powdered milk was a staple of my childhood), and never traveled, I'm a culinary dilettante at best and likely always will be. Much of the insider foodie stuff is over my head if not interesting and often fascinating. But like all quest narratives, Bourdain's--under the guise of a quest for the elusive "perfect meal"--is a quest for identity. And the guy can write. At his best, he's as good as any of the too-many memoirists out there and better than most. I'm about half-way through the book and really enjoying it.

...AAAAAND it held up very well indeed. #finished

[Mishma · Rating 4 out of 5]

i fell in love with him, i think

[oishi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to start off by saying that this memoir (and I do think it is a memoir) made it easier to enjoy life during some especially new and turbulent moments, and I can only attribute that to what an engaged narrator Anthony Bourdain is. But, hold on, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The goal of this book is clear- the blurb may convince you that the book is an insight into Bourdain's neo-colonial voyage into the best food the world has to offer, and it definitely is; but more honestly, it is Bourdain documenting his experience of starring in a reality show paying big bucks to watch one of the world's most beloved chefs eat bugs. And Bourdain doesn't shy away from how fucked both those goals are.

The book in its most material, obvious sense is about taste, sensation, sweet, sour, hot, sticky, rotten. And a little bit beyond that, it is even more obviously about the importance of food, specifically in discussing "history" and "culture". Bourdain effortlessly makes evident his strange position in generalizing cultures through their tastes, experiencing freshness and spice in Vietnam, a grotesque thrill in Cambodia, the stale ferment of alcohol and nostalgia in France. Simultaneously, though, Bourdain also makes evident the inadequacy of simply food as a narrative tool, the most important takeaway for cooks and food writers, journalists, and dare I say, anthropologists everywhere. That the food, without the people and the places and their sticky knotty fractured contexts, in front of a camera crew especially, is an unforgivingly incomplete portrayal. In making this clear, I think Bourdain portrays (and not implicitly) the hubris of a chef going on world tour to try "extreme cuisines" in search of a "perfect meal", and simultaneously, our hubris, as self proclaimed food connoisseurs and enthusiasts, who like to believe we know a thing or two about taste (both literally and culturally). I realize this review is wildly inarticulate and too gushing to be read seriously, and perhaps I am a poor critique because I really do believe I fell in love with the charming, funny, self deprecatory narrator and still his beautiful prosaic description of food, I think I recognize that. But I do think 'A Cook's Tour' begins to teach us a discomfort that we must reckon with as we make any claims about what we eat. In knowing his inadequacy and his writing's inadequacy, Anthony Bourdain tried and fell short wonderfully.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm an unabashed Tony Bourdain fan, love his brain and P.o.V on just about everything (although there are things the man eats that I would NEVER, in a million years, even if I was starving to death, put in my mouth) and Cook's Tour is, I think his first book (or an early on in any case). It chronicles the beginning of Tony's running-around-the-world-eating-cool-stuff adventures, and most of the book is broken down into short sections by place, i.e. this five pages is about Vietnam, this really horrific six pages is Cambodia (note: YOU DO NOT WANT TO VISIT CAMBODIA. EVER.), this section is San Francisco. Anthony Bourdain is one of those guys where you either love his shtick or you don't, but if you haven't read something by him or seen one of his shows, well, if that little cave on the side of the mountain has TV you should check him out. He's witty, reasonably fearless, and he knows that deep down he's an a$$hole, which keeps him from becoming too pompous. A great fascinating read that makes me want to learn how to cook so many of the things he eats while traveling the world. Warning: This book does not make good bedtime reading. This book will make you get up at midnight or two A.M. and go raid the fridge, wishing that peanut butter and jelly sandwich was actually fresh Vietnamese pho or slow-cooked pork belly or whatever else Tony just ate. A must-read, even if you're not of the foodie type.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dear Anthony Bourdain.

I do not know who you are, and since picking up this book I have no interest in finding out any more about you either. You are a pompous, whiny, brat who spends 260 pages taking the attention off some truly incredible places and foods and onto yourself. I cannot put into words how much I dislike you moaning so profusely about a TV show you signed up for, and who funded your travels around the world.

Thankfully there is a small amount of the book which is well written. You also raise some pertinent issues about the consumer knowing where their food comes from. Sadly you destroy any credibility you have for me by grousing so frequently. No one cares about how few places there are to smoke in an airport apart from you.


Chris (Not your brother.)

[Girl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really hoped this would be something more - more interesting, more grabbing, more unputdownable. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work for me this way. I mean, there are some good fragments (about food), and some less good fragments (oh noes the European Union is destroying food in Europe / the vegans are destroying all of us). But underlying all of this, there is the unavoidable truth that Bourdain was already suffering from depression (and possibly other mental health problems) at the time of writing this; it just oozes through the book. And it just makes the experience of reading this book so very, very sad.

[Charlie Bray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vividly captures the cuisine and soul of each place he stops. Almost more of a survey of humanity than of food.

[Jose Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish he was not dead

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected to enjoy this much more than I did. Since I have watched No Reservations off and on for years, and watched some of A Cook's Tour years ago; and because I just finished Kitchen Confidential and liked it much more than I thought I would, I figured this book would be an automatic hit with me. Unfortunately, no. It was just ok. I did enjoy reading a chapter, then going to YouTube and watching the Cook's Tour episode that went along with it. I think I got a better sense of what was outside the lines of the book and on the editing room floor of the show by getting both than I would ever get from reading or watching alone.

This book is Anthony Bourdain trying too hard to be what the first book led to him being perceived as. He works at being world-weary and a cynical bastard, and it comes across a little precious. The first book denigrated types of people, anonymous groups. This one is pointedly unkind to specific named individuals, probably because that was so encouraged during his first book tour by the interviewing media. Reading, it's very clear why Bourdain had to leave the Food Channel and continue with the Travel Channel. The "eating around the world" was just an excuse, a way to get someone else to bankroll his travel. There was no culinary reason to go to Cambodia, and he didn't even bother to pretend there was or to try to find one. Repeatedly it seemed to be a debauched vacation in which he was annoyed that the film crews continued to bring it back to a food focus instead of an afterthought. And really, it was embarrassing that he felt the need to buy drugs in Morocco. He couldn't stay sober for the meal that his hosts put so much time and effort into? I've had friends come to nice friendly dinners stoned, and while I don't care if they're smoking pot generally, it ruins the occasion. Them high and making everyone else uncomfortable.

Structured strangely, the trips were presented as if they were one after another in the order they were listed, but small clues in the text make it clear that they weren't. His final trip to Vietnam (the last chapter), for example, mentions a conversation in which he tells a guide/translator that Philippe might be coming for a bit. This concerns the guide, who will have to deal with red tape for Philippe's presence. According to that sentence, the itinerary was: Saigon, Nha Trang, Can Tho, back to Saigon, all one trip. The book split up the Vietnam visit into 4+ separate chapters that acted like separate visits, in the order of Saigan, Can Tho, Nha Trang, back to Saigon. If the various worldwide destinations were going to be shuffled around, with vague indications that this was all one long trip instead of multiple excursions, then it would have made more sense to either arrange the chapters geographically or to find something that would lead from one to the next. As it was, the book was structured thus: Cambodian "Dear Nancy" letter, Vietnamese intro, Portugal, France, Vietnam, Spain, Russia, Morocco, Vietnam, Tokyo, Cambodia, England, Mexico, Vietnam, California, Scotland, Vietnam.

Bourdain clearly lives under the misapprehension that his experience of America is the experience of America. I continuously found myself cringing and thinking "shit, I hope non-American friends who read this don't think he speaks for us!" Examples are page 10 in my copy (in which he recounts the nostalgia of food, but instead of making it his own food nostalgia, he lists things as if they are common American experiences--being a teenager in Paris with a Eurail pass who blew their money on hash, licking caviar off someone's nipple, hands smelling of crushed fireflies [what sort of child/teen crushes fireflies?! that's not a standard experience!], etc.), page 113 (in which he says we all have the cheap tourist tchotchkes and 'native handcrafts' to hold our stash), and page 258 (in which he says that there aren't wealthy Americans who can point to huge acreage of land with forests, streams, etc, and say that it's been in the family for generation upon generation. Come spend real time in the West, my friend. Many families here have owned huge swaths of land for more than 150 years. They came and homesteaded it, planted, and stayed. Wealthy Western landowners just don't generally discuss their riches and instead appear to be 'just workers').

There's a certain set of boomers who grew up surrounded by news of the Vietnam War, loved ones getting drafted, etc., who assumed they'd be going when they were old enough...but who turned 18 shortly after we left Vietnam and so never went. That group tends to have a fixation--of varying levels--with the country of Vietnam and what we did to it and its people. Bourdain is definitely one of these. He graduated high school in 1973 and did two year at Vassar before dropping out a few months after the Fall of Saigon. It seemed that practically all he could see or think about in his multiple chapters to Vietnam in this book was the war. He extrapolates the thoughts of Vietnamese children upon seeing him as "the Giant American Savage who once bombed and strafed the village..." and on the following page "I've got something to prove. We may have lost the war. We may have pointlessly bombed and mined and assassinated and defoliated before slinking away as if it were all a terrible misunderstanding--but goddamn it, we can still drink as good as these guys, right?" It was as if Bourdain was incapable of seeing Vietnam as a country that existed outside of Western imperialism, as if he'd read too much Graham Greene and not enough Vietnamese history pre-1941. It was embarrassing that he could only see this beautiful and rich country through the lens of past American Communism fears.

Also, I'm sorry, but I CANNOT believe he thinks it's ok to use the word "Charlie" to describe the average Vietnamese, as far into the book as page 224. That is a derogatory term. If he used the word "gook" or "chink" people wouldn't just ignore it. Just, no.

In the end I think this book would have been better with more advance planning. Either his editor needed to tell him to work out his Vietnam obsession with a separate book, or they needed to pare down the amount it appeared in this one into a) one chapter, or b) an opening chapter and a closing chapter. Not 5 separate sections. Either they needed a sensible travel plan, or a less random, more easily-explained reason to go from one location to the next.

Oh! And one final note. I've long suspected that much of Bourdain's public persona is very carefully crafted to match what he and his handlers think the public wants from him, and that many of his "unbelievable" bad-boy comments on other chefs are honed for effect. To that thought I offer this comparison:
On Paula Deen (years ago, before the diabetes debacle): "The worst, most dangerous person in America is clearly Paula Deen...she's proud of the fact that her food is fucking bad for you. I would think twice before telling an already obese nation that it is OK to eat food that is killing us."
On Nigella Lawson: "while she may not look like too many cooks I know, she does seem to cook a lot of exuberantly cheesy, fatty, greasy stuff--not shying away from the butter and cream--which puts her on the side of the angels in my book. How many upper-crust widows do you know who say 'Fuck it! Let's eat what's good!' Not many. I like her."

[marko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ako bi osoba bila žanr u muzici, onda bi Bordejn bio rock (and roll), a njegovi opisi mnogih država i hrane koju je probao u njima maksimalno energičan solo na električnoj gitari.

[Holly Seliga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Officially entered into the literature hall of fame. No notes, and for someone that writes lengthy reviews (me), not much to say. A no-nonsense legend of his time, just looking to soak up everything the world has to offer. The best of the best, and a personal hero.

[Adelaide Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Bourdain is my emma chamberlain, tinx, or other influencer of your choice that you will follow til the ends of the earth. He’s such a good writer, I feel like I’m there with him on his travels through the perfect choice of detail and brutally honest descriptions of not only the food, but the place and people. He manages to make the inevitably vain experience writing a memoir humble through his undeniable love for the people and places he travels to and awe for his fellow chefs.

Got a bit redundant towards the end as we returned to countries we’d already visited, but damn that final chapter brings a few tears to the eyes.